[quest88]

It exposes me to viewpoints, warnings, or subjects I wouldn't have learned otherwise.

For example, I've never given time to reading about gene editing, but after reading Change Agent I've been reading about gene editing and Crispr. I also have some minor understanding of the dangers and benefits of where that could take civilization.

I hadn't thought about what would happen in doomsday scenarios, like a large virus outbreak or an EMP blast, but Holding Their Own and One Second After exposed me to that.

Reading Seveneves exposed me to space travel and Lagrange points, I had no idea about these otherwise.

Authors like John Fante are great story tellers and he's such a joy to read instead of watching a tv series.

[TeMPOraL]

Change Agent is great. I read it after finishing The Windup Girl, which is a book someone on HN recommended to me.

I do second The Windup Girl - in particular, I liked the exploration of technologies in a society so energy constrained, that the Joule becomes pretty much the most important resource.

If anyone has any biotech fiction recommendations, I'd love to hear them.